Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people think that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing. Others believe that we should try to cooperate more, rather than competing against each other.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

There is often a debate between people that some prefer competitions at work, school and in daily routine while some tends to prefer cooperation instead of competing with friends, colleagues. In this essay, I will discuss both sides before coming to a conclusion.

On the one hand, competitions carries its own pros and cons. A healthy competition between groups motivates each other to perform better. For instance, in a class several competitions are conducted in order to evaluate the performers and the ones who are lacking in order to help and guide them. Moreover, competition will also give the opportunity to enhance and embrace the qualities and inspire other to learn. In contrast, competition has its drawbacks too that mean it can lead to mental pressure and envy between groups and individuals. In addition to that, it can also create unnecessary stress.

On the other hand, cooperation is working together with each other and aims to provide help, share knowledge with your class fellows, colleagues rather then creating unwanted stress between them. This plays a positive role in team work and improve the productivity of the group. Moreover, it may also protect from unwanted politics and tactics between the members. But with totally dependent on cooperation it is hard to delegate or identify the capable person from a panel in order to hand over a huge responsibility.

In conclusion, Both views carries their own pros and cons. But i believe that at places like work, school there should be competitions in order to identify the performers and highlight the areas, individuals or group that requires improvements.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the discussion and give a clear preference for competition in the conclusion. The points about motivation, stress, cooperation, and identifying capable people are relevant to the question. The classroom example also helps illustrate how competition can reveal areas for improvement. However, the discussion is uneven: the benefits of competition receive more explanation, while the drawbacks and the advantages of cooperation are mostly stated rather than developed. The claim that cooperation can prevent “politics and tactics” is not explained, and the final preference would be more convincing if you acknowledged when cooperation is especially valuable. Develop each main point with a reason or a specific example so the response answers all parts more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” makes the progression easy to follow, and the ideas are generally grouped appropriately. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some of the stronger control associated with a higher level. However, links between ideas can feel mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “Moreover” and “In addition to that.” Some references are also unclear: “the ones who are lacking” does not specify what they lack, and “this” in the cooperation paragraph could refer to more than one idea. Use more precise referencing and vary how you connect explanations and examples.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “healthy competition,” “mental pressure,” “productivity,” and “delegate.” These choices allow you to discuss both benefits and disadvantages, and the meaning is generally clear. You also attempt some less common expressions, but several are inaccurate or unnatural in context, such as “embrace the qualities,” “protect from unwanted politics,” and “hand over a huge responsibility.” There are also word-choice and form issues in phrases such as “competitions are conducted” and “class fellows,” which reduce naturalness. Aim for more precise collocations and check whether a phrase expresses the intended meaning; for example, describe competition as helping people “develop their abilities” rather than “embrace” qualities.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses with “while,” “in order to,” and “that,” and the main ideas remain understandable. However, some errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction persist. For example, “competitions carries” should have a plural verb, while “team work and improve the productivity” needs a consistent grammatical structure. The opening sentence also has an awkward construction, and “But with totally dependent on cooperation” is not a complete, well-formed clause. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, as in “Both” and “i” in the conclusion. Review subject–verb agreement and ensure each sentence has a clear subject and verb; then proofread for sentence boundaries and capital letters.

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